1. Scottie Romisson (Scottie) is a principal solicitor of Romisson & Barney Lawyers, a general law practice comprising 3 legal practitioners. The other principal solicitor is Joyce Barney (Joyce). The third practitioner is Gus Tyler (Gus), an employee solicitor, who joined the law practice recently.

8. Peta Duton (Peta) is the Minister for Education, Migration and Enterprise (MEME). Marri Sharkson (Marri) is an opinionated blogger, occasional free-lance journalist and self-proclaimed crusader against corruption. Marri's slogan on her blog states that she goes 'where angels fear to tread', apparently a misunderstanding of the proverb 'fools rush in where angels fear to tread'.

9. In a recent post on her blog, Marri identifies Peta as the Minister who is pressurising AFAR through SCONE. Marri asserts that Peta is abusing her position as the MEME. Marri suggests that Peta is applying pressure on AFAR because Peta is beholden to a nationalist lobby group that has been agitating for a new 'Caucasian Australian' policy because of the lobby group's generous donations to Peta's political campaign. In her post, Marri poses the question, 'If this isn't corruption, then I don't know what is'. Marri's post is based on information provided by an inside source in SCONE.

10. Annie Rusdon (Annie), a principal of Rusdon Legal, is Peta's solicitor. Annie commences defamation proceedings on Peta's behalf in the County Court of Victoria against Marri. Scottie is acting for Marri in the proceedings. Scottie files in court and serves on Rusdon Legal the necessary documents to defend the claim on Marri's behalf.

11. A few days later, Scottie receives a call from Marri asking him to try and settle the matter. Apparently her source in SCONE has "chickened out" and is not willing to have anything to do with the defamation proceedings, which makes Marri worry that she will not have any evidence to substantiate her allegations. Scottie asks her to speak to her source again and let him know whether the person will cooperate. He advises Marri that if necessary, he can subpoena her source to give evidence. A few days later Marri contacts Scottie again and tells him that her source is adamant about not getting involved. Marri is reluctant to compel her source to testify via subpoena as she fears losing the person as a source. She asks Scottie to try for a settlement.

19. The litigation progresses to the stage where the Court gives directions for the further conduct of the proceedings. These include a direction that parties attend a judicial resolution conference** to attempt a resolution of the dispute without going to trial. After consulting with Marri, Scottie decides to attend the judicial resolution conference himself rather than brief a barrister for her. **similar to a mediation except that the process is conducted by a judicial officer

21. A Judicial Registrar conducts the judicial resolution conference. In the course of addressing the Judicial Registrar, Scottie claims that Marri has "solid evidence" and "an impeccable insider to back her up". Scottie rhetorically asks, "Who would risk saying such things if they were not true? It would be foolish of anyone to tell falsehoods; the person would just be asking for trouble, to be sued, or even charged." Scottie further asserts that Marri "would not be defending the case if she does not have a witness who can vindicate her". Further, Scottie takes a stab in the dark, "We have this witness, but that person is not the only one who knows about all this hanky-panky, we are aware of other witnesses and will approach them if necessary; we believe the truth will prevail!"

Please refer to paragraphs 1, 8 to 11, 19 and 21 of the Facts.

Discuss the conduct of Scottie Romisson in paragraph 21 with reference to the relevant rules in the Legal Profession Uniform Law Australian Solicitors' Conduct Rules 2015 and one relevant case.